Trench art work of this sort was not normally made in the trenches, but in rear areas where there were workshops, viz RE depots or armourers' workshops. These are made from two German Mauser rifle rounds, whose head stamps are dated 1910 and 1913. The brass knife blade and fork tines have been sweated into the noses of the bullets with lead solder.

This would have been part of a by-knife set from the scabbard of a Scots dirk. Together with a small knife of matching design, the set would have been mounted on the outer face of the scabbard, normally one above the other. The dirk would have been mounted en-suite with a large citrine as a pommel.